The invention relates to a ventilator roof for motor vehicles having a roof opening made in a fixed roof surface that can be closed by a single cover which, by pivoting around a pivoting axis at or near its rear edge, can be swung into a ventilation position wherein the cover front edge is at a distance below the fixed roof surface while the cover rear edge is kept at least approximately at the height of the fixed roof surface.
In a known ventilator roof, German Gebrauchsmuster No. 81 19 662, the roof opening is made in the rear part of the fixed roof surface, and the cover can be taken out to open the roof opening. This known ventilator roof does, however, avoid the upward projection of any parts above the fixed roof shell in the ventilation position, which is aerodynamically favorable especially at high speeds. But, the ventilation gap opened at the central part of the roof (in the direction lengthwise relative to vehicle direction), formed after the cover is swung into the ventilation position, leaves something to be desired from a ventilation engineering standpoint. The opening degree of the roof opening cannot be quantitatively regulated. Moreover, even with the cover removed, the driver and passenger do not have a sense of driving in a convertible. These drawbacks can be partially eliminated if, in a likewise known way (German Offenlegungsschrift No. 31 49 977), there is provided in front of a rear cover, that can be swung into a ventilation position, a second cover which, after pivoting the rear cover into the ventilation position, can be pushed rearward over the rear cover to open a part of the roof opening above the driver and passenger. But such a two-cover solution requires an expensive and delicate drive and adjustment mechanism. Further, the roof opening can be opened only to less than half its overall size.
Other conventional sliding-lift roofs have a cover that can be selectively pushed outward or pushed rearward under the fixed roof shell. Such covers, for example, as shown in German Pat. No. 24 54 723 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,607, do make it possible to open the roof opening completely or almost completely, wherein the opening of the roof can be quantitatively regulated. But, in these types of roofs, the cover must be swung up into the ventilation position, thereby negatively affecting the aerodynamic behavior of the vehicle, especially at high speeds. Moreover, the ventilation properties in this case still leave something to be desired. Even more aerodynamically unfavorable are the so-called spoiler roofs, in which the cover, after swinging out into a ventilation position above the fixed roof shell, can be pushed rearward (German Offenlegungsschrift No. 33 11 452).